


A Mother is a Shelterer

by like_a_bird_that_flew



Series: Child Ballads (of the Songbird and Poet) [1]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Cuddling, Domestic, F/M, Fluff, Hades/Persephone (mentioned) - Freeform, Hermes (mentioned) - Freeform, I'm Bad At Summaries, Not Canon Compliant, They make it out because I said so, Unplanned Pregnancy, orpheus doesn't turn, sex is mentioned but isn't explicit, slight angst but not really, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 09:02:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20355907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/like_a_bird_that_flew/pseuds/like_a_bird_that_flew
Summary: Two years after they make it out of Hadestown, Spring has returned and life is beginning to settle down for Orpheus and Eurydice. But this new revelation will change their lives for good.





	A Mother is a Shelterer

Just over two years had passed since the young couple had made it out of Hadestown, two years since the world was brought back into tune. Orpheus’ song; the reminder of the love they once had, was the push that Hades and Persephone needed to start trying to fix their relationship again.

Over the course of the last two years, life up on top had, slowly but surely, become far more manageable. Winters were shorter and nowhere near as extreme as before, the Summers were still warm but not boiling, and Spring and Fall returned for good; offering milder weather and less need to worry about surviving long winters.

It was at the start of the fall, two weeks after Persephone left for Hadestown, that Eurydice realised that her period was late.

To say that it took her by surprise would be an understatement. She had spent so much of her life alone on the run that she never thought she would have a family let alone a child to call her own. That was until she met Orpheus of course.

That boy made her unable to imagine living alone ever again. Even in her lowest moment when she chose to board the train to Hadestown; her old survival instincts getting the better of her, she still couldn’t stop thinking of Orpheus and the life they could have had together.

Now they could have that life if they wanted it. Their experience in Hadestown had only made them more devoted to each other. They married less than two weeks later, with Hermes officiating and Persephone as their witness. Now, two years later, Eurydice spent the morning throwing up her breakfast for the third day in a row, whilst Orpheus sat behind her rubbing her back soothingly.

“Okay, I think I’m done,'' she said whilst flushing the toilet and shuffling backwards into Orpheus’s embrace, her nausea finally subsiding.

“Maybe you should see a doctor,” said Orpheus, his eyes filled with concern, he hated being unable to help his wife, wished he could simply write a song to fix all of her problems, including sickness.

“No that’ll be far too expensive. Besides, I’m sure it’s just a stomach bug or something. Just help me up please” she replied, her heartwarming at his concern for her.

Orpheus stood up before helping Eurydice to her feet. Then, lifting her up by her thighs and settling her with her legs around his waist, he carried her over to their bed.

It was when the two were lying in bed, Eurydice cuddling into her lover’s chest, that she had her epiphany. She was late.

“Orpheus” she mumbled, sitting up slightly.

“Yes my love?” he replied, turning to face her; sensing that something was wrong.

“How long has it been since Seph left?” she asked. The two of them had taken to telling the date based on changing seasons, and Persephone's departure was the main indicator of the start of Autumn.

“About two weeks, why?”

At this point, Eurydice sat up straight, counting the days in her head. They had spent the past month or so spending time with Persephone before her return the underworld, stocking up for the Autumn and Winter, and working the bar as usual. Eurydice had had no time to worry about things like her cycle or how often she and Orpheus were being intimate. They always took precautions of course, but that didn’t mean that accidents couldn’t happen.

“Shit” she mumbled.

2 weeks it had been since her period was due, and 6 weeks since her last one. She was around 6 weeks pregnant.

“Songbird, what’s wrong?” asked Orpheus, now starting to get very worried. He sat up against the headboard and lifted his wife’s legs to drape over his lap so that he could wrap his arms around her supportively.

“You know you can tell me anything”.

Obviously, Eurydice knew this. But there was still that part of her that told her that he would leave; that everyone would leave her in the end. The part of her that had been conditioned by years alone on the streets. She felt her eyes start to well up at the thought of Orpheus leaving her to raise their child on her own.

This was when Orpheus knew that something was very wrong. Eurydice was almost never this openly vulnerable with her emotions, even around him. She was getting better at being vulnerable but she had practically trained herself to stay closed off in order to survive. The fact that she physically couldn’t keep up her facade any longer showed that something extremely upsetting was clearly weighing on her mind.

Orpheus pulled her tight into his chest and pressed kisses to her temple.

“Hey, don’t cry baby girl, I’ve got you, I’m right here. Please tell me what’s wrong so that I can help”.

Hearing the love and concern in his voice made her snap back to reality. She looked up at her husband; who had done the impossible, breaking in and out of the Underworld just to bring her home. She thought about how gentle he was with her, how different he was from any of the men she’d been with before who’d only used her then dumped her when they got bored. She thought about the night she was now sure they’d conceived their child; how he had held her like she was the most precious thing in the world, how he’d often ask her if she was okay and enjoying herself, and how he would always focus on her pleasure first and then his own.

Orpheus always made her feel loved, and that love had created life. She realised she wanted this; for them to raise their baby together.

She moved back slightly to face him properly, wiped the tears from her eyes then took both of his hands in hers. She looked down at their hands, still scared of the rejection that deep down she knew would never come.

“My period is late” she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

“Wait what,” he said, still processing her words, trying to figure out if she was saying what he thought she was saying.

She took one of his hands and placed it on her stomach.

“Orpheus I think I’m pregnant”

After a moment of staring at her with a shocked expression, he broke out into a massive grin.

“For real? You really think so?” he rambled, unable to contain his joy.

Eurydice just nodded whilst beginning to smile as well. She was welling up with tears again but this time they were happy tears. By this point, Orpheus was almost crying as well.

He cupped her chin with his hand that wasn’t on her stomach, kissing all over her face causing her to giggle.

“We’re gonna have a baby? He breathed, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Yeah, we’re gonna have a baby” she replied giddily, pulling him in for a passionate kiss.

When they broke apart he tackled her to the bed and started kissing all over her tummy.

“I love you both so much already,” he said in between kisses. “I’ll do everything I can to protect you”.

Eurydice giggled, any doubts she had about Orpheus’ willingness to be a father had immediately vanished. He was already as devoted to his unborn child as he was to her.

“I love you too” she chuckled, pulling him in for another long kiss

Times might not be perfect, but with the seasons back in tune providing a good harvest, and their jobs at the bar providing a steady source of income (Eurydice spent so much time there with Orpheus, often helping him serve drinks that the manager figured they might as well employ her as well), there was never a better time for the young couple to bring a child into the world. They had already made it out of Hell together. As long as they had each other (and maybe support from Hermes and Persephone) everything would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this fic, it's my first proper attempt at writing prose so let me know what you think! All comments are greatly appreciated. Also, I have more ideas for this story so subscribe for part 2 coming soon!
> 
> The title comes from the song 'Wilderland' by Anais Mitchell and the title of the collection comes partly from the album 'Child Ballads' by Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer.


End file.
